The Free Cuba Foundation co-sponsored the Winter Student Leadership Conference with UM CAUSA and Young Cubans in Action held at the Grito de Yara - Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Conference Hall of the Cuban Democratic Directorate on December 28, 2009 The Conference was broadcast live on UStream. The following is archived footage:

The Free Cuba Foundation co-sponsored the Winter Student Leadership Conference with UM CAUSA and Young Cubans in Action held at the Grito de Yara - Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Conference Hall of the Cuban Democratic Directorate on December 28, 2009

The Conference was broadcast on UStream.

Frank Calzon on Cuban Intelligence and America’s Vulnerabilities

A recent article that quotes Frank Calzon on the Cuban intelligence threat:

CASTRO’S SPIES’ ARRESTS ARE A WAKE UP CALL FOR A COMPLACENT WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON: The arrest this afternoon of a former State Department official charged with spying for the Castro’s dictatorship “for nearly thirty years,” is a wakeup call for the U.S. government, according to Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba. “The arrests coincide with increasing pressure generated by opponents of current U.S. policy in the Obama Administration to give the benefit of the doubt to the Cuba. The arrests of Kendall Myers, and his wife Gwendolyn Myers, who, according to press reports worked as a Congressional aide, should be a matter of great concern to the Congress because of the ongoing efforts by Cuban diplomats and others to influence the perception of both Congressmen and Senators about U.S. Cuba policy.

The Myers are not the first U.S. government officials to be accused of spying for Cuba. Ana Belen Montes, a high intelligence officer at the Defense intelligence Agency is currently serving a 25- year sentence for spying for Havana. She was very influential in the Pentagon assessment of Havana’s level of anti-American hostility. Havana’s diplomats in Washington have unimpeded access to Congressional hearings, Congressional offices, think tanks and universities, while American diplomats on the island are harassed and denied similar access.

While the Department of State has sought to improve relations with Havana for more than two years, Havana continues to implement policies that would be considered totally unacceptable if carried out by other governments, including the arbitrary delays and even the breaking into the United States diplomatic pouch.

The Center for a Free Cuba, a non-partisan pro-democracy organization, called today on Congressmen Silvestre Reyes and Peter Hoekstra, chairman and ranking member respectively of the House Committee on Intelligence “to hold hearings as soon as possible about both Cuban intelligence operations in the United States, the hostile efforts against the United States by Cuban intelligence operatives elsewhere, and the work of “agents of influence” working for Havana in Washington.”

Frank Calzon, executive director, of the Center for a Free Cuba, said that “the Obama Administration is absolutely right to monitor carefully the work of Cuba, North Korea, Iran and other regimes which have associated themselves with international terrorism.” The FBI should be congratulated for their undercover operation which brought to light the pernicious work of Mr. Myers who, according to the FBI, had access to more than 200 secret and top-secret intelligence reports about Cuba.

Perhaps this announcement will encourage American government officials, including Congressional staff, to report to appropriate government agencies any approach by diplomats and others working for those regimes.”

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Sixty one years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed by members of the UN General Assembly. Its signers proclaimed that the document "be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

Sadly, in many countries, such as Cuba, even displaying the document can land a person in jail for "subversive activities". (Cuba is a signer of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

This January will mark the 51st anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, which brought about the longest sitting dictator in the world, Fidel Castro. Under his rule, there are no free elections, freedom of speech is stifled, and Cubans spend long terms in prison for any type of peaceful dissent against the government.

Even now with his brother Raul in power, not much has changed concerning human rights in Cuba, as Human Rights Watch released a report this November, titled "New Castro, Same Cuba."

The Free Cuba Foundation denounces any human rights violations against Cuba's nonviolent dissident movement. It will continue to spread the message of the brave Cuban men and women who risk intimidation, harassment and prison in order to fight for their democracy and fundamental human rights, rights that are universal and should be respected by any sitting government.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Twenty years ago a scar that divided a people for decades finally began to heal as the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and the German people were finally reunited. Today they celebrated and the world with them. Here is why and how.

Somber documentary explains why the world is celebrating the end of the Berlin Wall

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Colombian singer/songwriter Juanes is organizing a concert in Cuba as part of his Paz Sin Fronteras (Peace Without Borders) concert tour. He has repeatedly said he is performing for the Cuban people, not the government, bringing a message of hope, love, and peace. Yet, he has also said that he will not speak out about Cuba’s poor human rights record, nor meet with members of Cuba’s opposition movement, in order to keep the event from becoming “political.”

While the Free Cuba Foundation (FCF) recognizes that Juanes has the right to invite whomever he pleases to sing with him, having both Amaury Perez and Silvio Rodriguez sends a mixed message. Both are staunch supporters of the Cuban Communist government and signed a petition justifying the regime’s imprisonment of 75 nonviolent dissidents and the execution of three young Afro-Cubans who tried to flee to the United States back in the spring of 2003. Although no one denies their artistic talent, poet Ezra Pound and singer Paul Robeson had their reputation tainted for endorsing Hitler and Stalin respectively. Whatever the quality of their art, it is immoral for artists to support injustice.

FCF is not concerned that this concert will grant legitimacy to Cuba’s totalitarian regime, because no unelected dictatorship could ever gain it from a pop concert.

FCF calls for respect for freedom of expression everywhere, and denounces any violence that stifles that freedom. Censorship imposed through violence and intimidation is routine in places such as Cuba. However, it should never be tolerated here in Miami, where many of the victims of this regime reside. That is why we are denouncing the threats made against Juanes. We respect nonviolent protests, but the destruction of Juanes CDs, conjure up images of book burnings in communist and fascist dictatorships. These acts send a false message not only to the rest of the world, but more importantly to Cubans on the island. These acts serve to feed the Cuban government’s propaganda machinery which aims to smear the exile community with the aim of generating divisions between ordinary Cubans living here and on the island.

Our organization believes that all individuals, including Cubans, have the right to take part in the arts and in cultural events, as enshrined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

If one is serious about peace then one should speak out against injustice and the absence of freedom. In Cuba, musicianswho are independent or critical of the regime are censored, and there are many prisoners of conscience behind bars for exercising their human rights. These are not political issues. These are human rights issues and issues of human dignity. A concert like this could help foster freedom of expression in the arts the same way the late Pope John Paul II made gains in the area of freedom of religion, as he celebrated Mass before thousands of Cubans, and called upon them to not be afraid and to “do all that you can to build a future of ever greater dignity and freedom.”

If you want to bring a message of peace, reconciliation, and impacting change to Cuba, then including artists that oppose the dictatorship is a logical necessity, and speaking up for human rights and the immediate release of all prisoners of conscienceis essential. Only then will this concert truly live up to its name of “Peace Without Borders”, otherwise it risks being remembered as the “Censored Within Boundaries” concert. This is the concern raised by many Cuban artists both on the island and in exile, who insist the concert live up to its name.

On August 5, 1994, thousands of Cubans took to the streets of Old Havana to deliver a message to Fidel Castro. This message had long been bottled up inside the individual consciousness of the Cuban people for almost 40 years.

Nonviolent theorists write of a "paradox of repression" where the "use of violent repression can contribute to the instability of the regime that sponsors it." On July 13, 1994 the Cuban dictatorship carried out a massacre in which 37 men, women, and children were extrajudicially executed. But unlike on other occasions this time there were survivors, who spoke out and denounced the atrocity. This violent repression was a powerful contributing factor to the instability that led to a social explosion.

The powder-keg that was set off resulted in what we today call, ‘El Maleconazo”. Thousands of Cubans marched down the streets, demanding their "libertad" - freedom. Yet 15 years later, the Cuban people still long for freedom, as hundreds languish in Cuban prisons for merely speaking their mind and protesting a dictatorship that has continually denied the Cuban people their basic human rights.

The Free Cuba Foundation supports the brave efforts of these men, women, and children, who risked their lives to denounce years of Communist repression, as well as the non-violent activists who continue to fight for freedom. We hope that the protests of August 5, 1994 will not die in vain, and that the Cuban people can one day rightfully reclaim their "libertad".

Twitter

Followers

About Me

The Free Cuba Foundation is an action oriented youth movement committed to defending human rights, support the Cuban internal democratic opposition, and advocate for the principles of Gandhian non-violence.